No Sludge!

"Charles @ Kankakee" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

What? I must have come in late. What's the background here? What did Philip say?

What is this regarding?

What model and year of yota (not all exhibit the problem which apparently was due to design issue)? I suspect short trips are more a contibuting cause to the sludge problem too.

What's so special about that? I've never really had any sort of sludge problem in any engine I've owned. Heck I took the pan off a 50 year old farm tractor which had been supjected to crappy old non-detergent motor oil for half of its life, and it didn't have any sludge. The only real sludge problem I've ever seen was a friend's Oldsmobile. He used Quaker State 10W40 and changed it at the GM recommended intervals. He had to scrap the crap out of the lifter valley with a spoon.

Ed

Some months ago, I asked what could be wrong with the Corolla as it had started eating about a quart between changes. No signs of dripping or leaking and no real signs of burning, either. He accused me of not maintaining the car and that I had a sludge buildup. . . .

1. I have receipts for oil changes every 3000. Not cheap oil, either. Valvoline Max-Life 10W30.
2. Now that we found that the pan gasket was seeping, that explains the loss of oil and the lack of dripping. If it was seeping, the airflow past the engine while it was running blew it away. I almost never idle the thing while it's sitting for more than 30 seconds, unless I'm at a traffic light. But I do drive it pretty hard . . . .
3. No sludge was found when they had to drop the pan gasket. Not even varnish.

Next thing to go will probably be the seals in block. I'm not used to front-drive engines. If it was a rear-drive setup, I'd expect the rear main to go out next.

Charles of Kankakee

This thing doesn't get hardly any short trips. I drive it about 90 miles one way each day except Saturday. That's how it's got 209,400 on it right now. It gets a short trip at 5 in the morning on Sat, Tues, and Thurs, and a short trip at 7:30 in the morning on Mon, Wed and Fri. But then on Monday, Wed, Friday and Sunday nights, and Tuesday and Thursday morning, it gets a 90 mile drive.

Charles of Kankakee

I had asked for possible causes of oil loss. She had started using about a quart between changes.

Phillip had practically accused me of:

1. Not maintaining it. I have receipts for oil changes every 3000 miles.

1. Using cheap oil. I use MaxLife 10W30. If I thought I could use their DuraBlend, I'd use that. I did until 125,000 miles, anyway.

I have to rely on this car. I can't afford to do the cheap oil trick. And we seem to have found the loss. As fast as I drive, it's blowing past the pan when I'm driving. A new seal should fix that. Now I have to worry about the mains going. Don't know if I have to worry about the front main. Lost a rear main before, but that was on a front-engine rear-drive setup that had been run summer and winter and 36,000 miles per year on Kendall

20-20W by the Previous Owner, or PO as it;s known as in some circles.

I wouldn't use QS in a lawn mower from what I hear about it. QS is the primary reason my Dad wouldn't use multiweight oils until I talked him into it with his 77 Corolla. He was probably glad I did. We got 207,000 out of it, but we didn't use QS in it, either. . . .

Apparently QS has a high paraffin content, or did in the old days, that's what they apparently used to use to make oil 'multi-weight', but it must have been terrible on engines. Mom used to keep paraffin in the kitchen for topping jelly jars. . . .

Charles of Kankakee

Charles of Kankakee

"Charles @ Kankakee" wrote in news:6 snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

Ahhhh...

The stuff that's supposed to "rejuvenate" worn seals.

My thinking leads me to suspect such a thing would end up coating the rear of the block with oil, as the air whips up and eddies behind the engine. Was there any oil blown around like that?

Seems to me that any of the seals could wear to the point of seepage at any time. Unless your engine model has a quirk all its own, as some do (example: Corolla T50 manual trannies used to eat their rear bearing regularly).

Yes Charles, I remember that accusation clearly...I see Philip is rather quiet just now...mind you, it's possible that he's away or something too...he's a pretty knowledgeable guy, but he's an abrasive bastard too...

If it was losing a quart every 3000 miles through a sump leak, I would expect a liberal coating of oil on the underside of the car and even across the rear vertical part of the car body. Are you absolutely sure that the consumption has ceased or even reduced significantly?

Huw

I had a K-40 tranny that blew out 4th gear. Turns out it needed a 50 cent part, but the rebuild job would have come to $250 and I had nowhere to take it apart and do the work myself.

Charles of Kankakee

The seal's only been replaced for 2 days. I'm not even sure if it has completely 'cured' and seated yet. And I got a good look at the underside before replacement, and there wasn't a signifcant oil on anything but the edges of the pan. I also just replaced the valve cover gasket the oil change before. It's got 209,500 miles on it, so I'm expecting a few things to need replacement now and again. But it is not showing signs of burning it, either.

Charles of Kankakee

Unfortunately I think that your quart every three did not escape by that route and you will probably find that it is lost to combustion one way or another. You will soon find out for sure.

Huw

Well it's not getting sucked through the PCV valve route. I had a couple T series engines that started sucking oil when the PCV valve clogged, so I've been keeping an eye on that.

Charles